Thursday, February 04, 2010

I am 99.9% sure this boy will never take a nap again. Ever. Oh somebody bring me an ibuprofen STAT because I can pretty much guarantee this is not gonna go well.










***Updated***After repeatedly putting E back in his bed and telling him "This is rest time not play time. When the music is on, we stay IN BED." I gave up and put the baby gate up in his doorway. His rest time is usually 2 hours and he stays in there no matter whether he sleeps or not. He has played with his toys for two hours. Dumped out every single one of his blocks, put all of his nearly 10 loveys in a big pile in the floor with the blocks, stripped his bed of all blankets and pillows, rode his bouncy zebra for a while, threw his loveys one by one over the gate, shut and opened his bedroom door about a bazillion times and cried the entire time. Good thing Jason's going to the store and bringing home groceries. And wine. If there was ever a time he deserved a kiss, this would definitely be it.

Throughout the entire 2 hour time, other than a few reminders and two times going in to put him back in bed, I have ignored him. Is this the right thing to do? He has trashed his room and now I have to clean it up. I don't know what to do but I don't think this is it. Oh man. This is not gonna be fun.

***Upadated again***A pic of E's room. And where he finally fell asleep after crying for over two hours.





What you can't see in this picture is the baby gate right at his feet. I'm such a mean ol' mama!

6 comments:

Katy said...

I would put it all back without making any kind of fuss at all and then do it again tomorrow. I think if you're ignoring him he'll get the message and get used to it. This was just day one.

Amy said...

We have a rule in our house:
You make the mess, you clean it up. That will be his job after nap time (or rest time) is over. I'm taking out some of the toys at nap time but not all. Just the giant container of blocks and that's about it really. But yes, I will definitely try to ignore him. It will be tough but I will try.

Katy said...

You can do it!!

Jen said...

Amy, I'm so sorry you're having such a hard time with him. I remember these days...but...I have to say..those are the CUTEST PICTURES!!! You will look back at this one day and think that too. I think what you said up there in your above comment is PERFECT. If he has to clean it up, I'm thinking he'll be less likely to want to get that much out next time. It may take a week of doing this, but he'll get the picture eventually.
So...how long did he actually sleep on the floor? Did he get a good nap in or just a few minutes?

Amy said...

He probably would have slept a long time but since he finally fell asleep at 5:15, we woke him up after only about 15 minutes or so. He sure was cranky but he needed dinner and a bath and to go to bed at a decent time. We finally got him in bed at 8 and he didn't actually fall asleep til around 10 and again he was in the floor. I scooped him up and put him back in bed and he slept til 8 this morning. I hope today is easier!

Jaime said...

hi! i recently read a book that advised getting an alarm clock and then blaming the clock. as in - no power struggle because it's the clock making you sleep, not me. haven't tried it yet but thought i'd share!